Barnes & Noble on Tuesday unveiled a new version of its popular Nook Tablet to compete directly with Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Lining up with earlier reports, the new Barnes & Noble slate features the same specs as the earlier Nook Tablet, however the device’s internal storage has been halved to 8GB. “For any customer who likes to read digitally, watch movies or TV shows, browse the web, or help their kids read and learn through interactive books and apps, our new $199 NOOK Tablet with 8GB is the best product value on the market,” Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch said in a statement. “NOOK Tablet is the highest-rated wireless media tablet in the 7-inch class, ultra-portable at under a pound, offers our exclusive VividView screen technology, and since its introduction this holiday has received rave reviews from customers about all its great features. We’re pleased to now offer customers the ability to experience NOOK Tablet’s unmatched content experience for only $199.” Barnes & Noble also stated that its previous-generation Android tablet, the Nook Color, will drop to $169, undercutting the Kindle Fire by $30. The company’s full press release follows below.

New Addition to Hot-Selling, Highly Rated NOOK Tablet Line Offers Fastest, Lightest, Most Powerful Tablet with the Best in Reading and Entertainment, Now in 8GB, at an Amazing Value

Award-Winning NOOK Color™ Now Offered at its Lowest Price Ever – $169

New York, New York – February 21, 2012 –Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today expanded its portfolio of bestselling NOOK® devices with the introduction of NOOK Tablet – with 8GB of memory, a tremendous value for the company’s fastest and lightest tablet at just $199. NOOK Tablet – 8GB version offers reading and mobile entertainment enthusiasts another great option in the NOOK family of devices. In addition, the company’s highly popular NOOK Color just became an even greater value at $169.

“For any customer who likes to read digitally, watch movies or TV shows, browse the web, or help their kids read and learn through interactive books and apps, our new $199 NOOK Tablet with 8GB is the best product value on the market,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Office of Barnes & Noble. “NOOK Tablet is the highest-rated wireless media tablet in the 7-inch class, ultra-portable at under a pound, offers our exclusive VividView™ screen technology, and since its introduction this holiday has received rave reviews from customers about all its great features. We’re pleased to now offer customers the ability to experience NOOK Tablet’s unmatched content experience for only $199.”

The newest member of the NOOK Tablet family offers the great features of top-selling NOOK Tablet – 16GB, but with 8GB of on-board memory, 512MB of RAM and a lower cost of just $199. NOOK Tablet – 8GB version includes all of these great features also available on NOOK Tablet – 16GB ($249):

· A highly tuned 1GHz dual-core processor for streaming video and lightning-fast Web browsing so customers can surf their favorite sites, and built-in email to stay easily connected with friends and family

· Breakthrough battery life, with 11.5 hours of reading time or nine hours of video viewing

o NOOK Newsstand™: An expansive collection of more than 450 digital periodical titles, which includes the largest digital collection of top 100 magazines available for subscription and single copy purchase. Colorful interactive magazines offer Barnes & Noble’s ArticleView™, animated page turns and smooth pinch, zoom and panning. Many special edition NOOK Magazines™ feature videos, quizzes, image galleries and more.

o NOOK Kids™:More than 1,400 interactive children’s picture books, some featuring animation and engaging activities, and more than 12,000 chapter books. With Read and Record™, customers can use NOOK Tablet’s built-in microphone to record and save their reading of any NOOK Kids picture books so children can listen to their favorite storytellers anytime.

o NOOK Comics and graphic novels: A vast collection of full-color comics, graphic novels and kids’ comics in high resolution and the largest digital collection of Marvel’s graphic novels available through a third party, as well as other titles from leading publishers including Archie, IDW and Dynamite. Through a partnership with VIZ Media, LLC, the largest publisher of anime and manga in North America, NOOK customers can access more than 30 series, featuring nearly 430 volumes.

o Books and more: Continuously expanded NOOK Store™ with the vast majority of books available for $9.99 or less. Barnes & Noble’s digital book collection includes PagePerfect™ NOOK Books™ featuring cookbooks, craft and art books rendered with rich precision to retain all the beauty of their stunning print versions, and enhanced reading with PDF thumbnail page views, and image pinch, zoom and pan in books and PDFs.

o Discover and socialize: Learn what to read next from Barnes& Noble’s knowledgeable booksellers with personalized recommendations, or connect through NOOK Friends™ to share thoughts, lend books through the exclusive LendMe® technology and more via email and sites like Facebook.

o Continuous reading: Read what you love, anywhere you like™ on NOOK devices and with FREE NOOK Reading Apps. Sync your library, last page read, bookmarks, etc. across all of your devices through NOOK Cloud.

· Sleek and thin with a soft touch back design, and lightweight at under a pound (14.1 oz.), making it easy to carry in a handbag, briefcase, backpack or suit jacket pocket for reading and entertainment on-the-go.

Customers can, as always, access their personal NOOK Library™ through the free, reliable and secure NOOK Cloud™ service, which also powers the seamless integration and synchronization between devices, as well as NOOK’s best-in-class shopping experience and social features.

Says Lynch, “NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color and NOOK Simple Touch™ represent the highest-quality portfolio of reading and entertainment products on the market at the best value. Whether it’s movies, music and apps on-the-go that you crave, or a simple, immersive reading experience, we offer great products and more choices than ever before with our product portfolio, starting at just $99.”

NOOK Color: Now $169

The highly acclaimed NOOK Color, offering access to top video and music services, popular apps, comics and more, is now available at a new low price of just $169, starting today. The first Reader’s Tablet, NOOK Color combines an award-winning reading experience with tablet essentials including apps, Web and email. NOOK Color customers can download Netflix to watch movies and TV shows, access a wide array of books, periodicals and comics, enjoy top music services and thousands of apps, browse the easy-to-use, social and streamlined NOOK Store.

Availability

NOOK Tablet – 8GB version is available for purchase today for $199 at http://www.nook.com and in Barnes & Noble stores, and will be available in leading retailers including Best Buy, Target and Walmart in the coming weeks. NOOK Color is now available in Barnes & Noble stores and http://www.nook.com for $169. Experience NOOK Tablet, NOOK Color and NOOK Simple Touch at http://www.nook.com or at the NOOK Digital Shops™, which feature the full portfolio of NOOK digital devices and FREE NOOK Reading Apps™, or displays in one of Barnes & Noble’s nearly 700 bookstores and other leading retailers. Barnes & Noble offers Always Free NOOK Supportin all of its neighborhood bookstores, with more than 40,000 NOOKsellers across the country ready to assist customers with setting up their NOOK devices or choosing their next great read.